Should the Mayor Run New York City Schools?
For two decades, New York City has been something of an anomaly: unlike the school boards that rule thousands of towns and cities, the nation's largest public school system is ruled by its mayor.
But this year, the way the city runs its schools faces a unique and important challenge that threatens to weaken the mayor's power.
In June, Mayor Eric Adams' control over city schools is up for renewal — and debate — by state lawmakers. And while the same cycle happens every few years, the Legislature now appears open to overhauling a school governance model that has become entrenched in New York and embraced by a handful of other major urban districts.
Mayoral control brought major changes to New York City schools. For example, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his school chancellor made unilateral decisions on issues that faced difficult political headwinds, including closing dozens of schools and opening hundreds of new ones, and cultivating the growth of charter schools, which are now 15 percent teaching. of students.
There has been intense debate as to whether these changes have improved the system overall. For example, the number of college graduates has increased, but it has also increased across the country, driven by changes at the state level. And many students in New York City are struggling to prepare for college.
Last year, hundreds of parents and teachers in New York were galvanized by education cuts and lingering anger over past school closures. They spoke out against the system this winter and called for more checks on the mayor, or an entirely new model. Democratic lawmakers appear open to listening, and the city's influential teachers union has also been vocal in lobbying for changes.
The battle over who runs a sprawling school system of more than 900,000 children comes against the backdrop of a national rethinking of how urban U.S. school districts should be managed. Some other major cities, such as Chicago, have recently begun to relinquish mayoral control.
It seems unlikely that New York will jettison the model completely. Last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would support a four-year extension of the mayor's authority. The families opposed to the mayoral control system have not united around one alternative plan.
Still, the coming months will provide a powerful test of the mayor's influence in Albany. And as lawmakers consider who should lead the schools in the longer term, the decisions made now could shape education policy in New York City at a critical time for the health of the school system.
“The future of our children is in jeopardy,” said Lorrianne Williams, a Brooklyn parent angry about the cuts, in comments at a recent public hearing that echoed the tenor of the arguments against mayoral control.
The model gained popularity in some major American cities during a peak era of education reform.
But after brief experiments with mayoral control that produced inconclusive results, cities like Detroit and Oakland, California, abandoned the system. This year, for the first time ever, Chicagoans will do so elect school board members, phasing out mayoral control after nearly three decades. In Boston, nearly 80 percent of voters said they were in favor of a switch on a recent ballot question an elected school board.
Today there are only a handful of medium and large school districts remain under mayorship.
“We are at a moment where communities are gaining momentum in this effort to regain local control,” he said Domingo Morel, teaches public policy at New York University.
'People have seen enough' he said. “And they demand more participation.”
Before mayoral control, New York's system was governed by a Board of Education and 32 elected local school boards. The model's supporters hoped it would give communities more direct control and make schools more responsive to parents and educators. The arrangement was made after a high-profile print of black and Puerto Rican parents to have a greater voice in local education.
But the city's school board system has struggled with cases of corruption and patronage. In the early 2000s, a movement for mayoral control emerged among educators and politicians across the country, who believed that student achievement would improve if more responsibility of teachers and competition between schools.
They also argued that the approach could give voters more control over schools and allow them to hold city leaders accountable for improving academic outcomes.
The state Education Department is preparing a study for lawmakers on the effectiveness of different models in New York and other cities, aiming to look beyond individual chancellors or city leaders.
Yet Mayor Adams and his record – including unpopular school mergers And removalsand cuts to preschool programs – have become central to the public debate.
Mayors Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio both faced resistance to their control of the school system. Yet two years ago, as the new mayor, Mr. Adams was given a shorter extension of control than he had requested – and that came with significant conditions. He has also received the lowest approval rating of any New York mayor in a quarter century.
“It's hard to separate mayoral control as a governance issue from Eric Adams — or whoever the current mayor is,” said Jeffrey Henig, a professor at Teachers College who has written about the city's model.
This time, Mayor Adams is trying to make a stronger argument that he needs to maintain control. For example, he has praised the schools chancellor's efforts to improve reading in primary schools and argued that his administration, which is entering its third year, needs more time to implement changes.
Amaris Cockfield, spokeswoman for the mayor, said that “we cannot allow our school system to return to the days of low test scores, inequality and corruption.”
Mr Adams has also tried to persuade some supporters to help him plead his case. During a recent gala of real estate leaders, several news media reported this the mayor confronted the crowd: “Why am I still fighting for school board?” he said. “I haven't seen any response from you yet.”
In New York City, the mayor exercises control over the school system, largely by selecting the chancellor. The mayor also selects a majority of members of the city's Education Policy Panel, which votes on major policies and contracts.
Senator John Liu, chairman of the New York City Education Committee, said he “didn't envision returning to the previous system.”
But teachers union leaders have argued that the mayor should no longer be able to appoint a majority of the panel, a potentially major shake-up. Several experts suggested that the city council, which has been more willing to confront the mayor than previous administrations, should be given more power to oversee decisions such as hiring the school's chancellor.
The current Chancellor, David C. Banks, has argued that the current model is particularly useful during crises such as the coronavirus pandemic, allowing for quick decision-making. Still, he has acknowledged there may be shortcomings.
“The mayoral accountability system is not perfect,” Mr. Banks said. “There is no perfect system.”